Nuclear Safety Regulatory Authority (NSRA)

- Being formed to regulate safety from nuclear radiation.
-Regulator will not report to DAE but to parliament.
-It will be able to access any premises where radiation is present, used or proposed to be used and seize documents concerned.
-it will be the sole agency granting consent on nuclear transactions.
-For any violations, defautlers to face imprisonments, fines.
-The Authority will replace the existing atomic energy regulatory board (AERB).

POWERS

-to conduct investigations, inspect , search and seize documents and objects from the sources of such radiation.


ORGANISING STRUCTURE:

- A chair person (serving/ retired judge of Supreme court and high court)
- two full time members ( eminent scientists who have held position of secretary rank in the govt.)
-four part timers

There will be a " council of nuclear safety " to over see and review the policies on nuclear and radiation safety. it will be headed by PRIME MINISTER.

Pantoea agglomerans

Researchers report they have found a way to kill malaria in mosquitoes by genetically modifying a bacterium commonly found in the insect’s mid-gut, according to a new study.  

The bacterium, called Pantoea agglomerans, can be modified to secrete proteins that are toxic to the malaria parasite, but are not harmful to humans or the mosquito itself.  In fact, the bacterium is so specific to targeting malaria that it does not even affect other bacteria in the mosquito’s gut, according to the researchers from Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute, who conducted the study.

The bacterium is genetically engineered to attack malaria in multiple ways.  

“There are not one, but several anti-malaria compounds the bacterium secretes,” explained Dr. Marcelo Jacobs-Lorena, senior author of the study and a professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.  “Each acts by a different mechanism and makes it much more difficult for the parasite to develop a resistance to it.”

One of the compounds secreted by the bacteria, for example, inserts itself into the membrane of malaria parasite, essentially poking holes in the parasite’s protective outer layer and causing it to ‘leak out’ and die.  Another one of the compounds binds itself to a crucial protein the parasite needs to survive, thus blocking the parasite from the taking advantage of the protein.

According to the researchers, the bacterium successfully inhibited the development of the deadliest human malaria parasite, known as Plasmodium falciparum, and the rodent malaria parasite, Plasmodium berghei, by up to 98 percent in a small preliminary study. The bacterium reduced the prevalence of malaria among the mosquitoes by up to 84 percent.  

Past approaches to fighting malaria in mosquitoes focused around genetically modifying the insects themselves to resist malaria.  However, scientists found – while successful in the lab – it was much more difficult to spread the genetic changes in nature.

“We changed the strategy, taking advantage of the fact that mosquitoes, like humans, carry big population of bacteria in their guts,” Jacobs-Lorena said.  “We took one of bacteria and engineered it to produce anti-malaria proteins.  We re-introduced it back into the mosquitoes and found it works quite well.”  

The reason this approach cannot be taken in humans, he added, is that while mosquitoes carry malaria in their guts, malaria nearly exclusively spreads through the bloodstream to the liver in humans – completely bypassing the gut.

Project "AVATAR"

A Russian entrepreneur, who heads a hi-tech research project called 'Avatar', has contacted the world's richest to offer them immortality.

Itskov claims that he will personally oversee their immortality process in exchange for an undisclosed fee.

Itskov, a media entrepreneur, claims to have hired 30 scientists to reach this goal and aims to transplant a human brain into a robot body within 10 years.

"You have the ability to finance the extension of your own life up to immortality. Our civilization has come very close to the creation of such technologies: it's not a science fiction fantasy. It is in your power to make sure that this goal will be achieved in your lifetime," the Daily Mail quoted Itskov as writing in a letter delivered to billionaires listed in Forbes magazine.

He has contacted a list of billionaires with a proposal for funding his quest for immortality - which Itskov refers to as 'cybernetic immortality' and the 'artificial body'.

The initiative is opening its San Francisco office this summer, and will be launching a social media project connecting scientists around the world.

"The 2045 team is working towards creating an international research center where leading scientists will be engaged in research and development in the fields of anthropomorphic robotics, living systems modeling and brain and consciousness modeling with the goal of transferring one's individual consciousness to an artificial carrier and achieving cybernetic immortality," Itskov's official site said.

"Such research has the potential to free you, as well as the majority of all people on our planet, from disease, old age and even death.

"For anyone interested, but skeptical, I am ready to prove the viability of the concept of cybernetic immortality by arranging an expert discussion with a team of the world's leading scientist working in this field.

Itskov envisages surgically 'transplanting' human consciousness into a robot body within 10 years.

He hopes to then 'upload' minds without surgery, leaving human bodies as empty husks as their owners 'live on' inside robots.

The project is called Avatar after the James Cameron movie, set far in the future, where human soldiers use mind control to inhabit the bodies of human alien hybrids as they carry out a war against the inhabitants of a distant world. (ANI)

Echelon (signals intelligence)

ECHELON is a name used in global media and in popular culture to describe a signals intelligence (SIGINT) collection andanalysis network operated on behalf of the five signatory states to the UK–USA Security Agreement (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States, known as AUSCANNZUKUS or Five Eyes).It has also been described as the only software system which controls the download and dissemination of the intercept ofcommercial satellite trunk communications.

ECHELON was reportedly created to monitor the military and diplomatic communications of the Soviet Union and its Eastern Bloc allies during the Cold War in the early 1960s, but since the end of the Cold War it is believed to search also for hunts of terrorist plots, drug dealers' plans, and political and diplomatic intelligence.
#The system has been reported in a number of public sources.
 #Its capabilities and political implications were investigated by a committee of the European Parliament during 2000 and 2001 with a report published in 2001, and by author James Bamford in his books on the National Security Agency of the United States.The report concludes that, on the basis of information presented, ECHELON was capable of interception and content inspection of telephone calls, fax, e-mail and other data traffic globally through the interception of communication bearers including satellite transmission, public switched telephone networks (which once carried most Internet traffic) and microwave links.
Bamford describes the system as the software controlling the collection and distribution of civilian telecommunications traffic conveyed using communication satellites, with the collection being undertaken by ground stations located in the footprint of the downlink leg.

( Interim Report)SAFETY EVALUATION OF INDIAN NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS POST FUKUSHIMA INCIDENT

An unprecedented earthquake of magnitude 9 (Richter scale) followed by a
Tsunami  of height much larger than the value considered in design of Fukushima
Dai-ichi Plant had hit north eastern part of Japan on March 11, 2011.
There are 13 nuclear power plants, all of Boiling Water Reactor type located in the
affected zone.  Six of the units are located at Fukushima Dai-ichi (3 under operation
and 3 under shutdown), 4 at Fukushima Dai-ini and 3 at Onagawa all operating.
The severe earthquake resulted in the disruption of the grid resulting into nonavailability of offsite power.  All the operating plants were automatically shut down
on sensing the earthquake. The decay heat removal system started functioning
normally as per design requirements. The Tsunami which hit the affected area about
half an hour later,  resulted into submergence of the emergency power supply
systems at Fukushima Dai-ichi leading to total loss of on-site power supply, termed
as station blackout condition.  The decay heat removal could not be resumed, which
ultimately resulted in the fuel assemblies getting uncovered. This led to overheating
of the fuel. Metal water reaction between zirconium and water resulted in
generation of hydrogen.  In the process, the reactor containment vault pressure
increased and reached upto almost two times the design pressure.  It was decided to
vent the reactor containment vault to prevent damage to it. During the
depressurization, hydrogen and steam leaked into the secondary containment
resulting in hydrogen explosion.  Spread of radioactivity necessitated evacuation of
public in the nearby areas extending up to 20-30  Kms to prevent exposure of the
public. The event was initially rated as Level 5 on the International Nuclear Event
Scale. The rating was subsequently revised to Level 7. However, the total
radioactivity released during this incident was about 10% of that released during the
Chernobyl accident in 1986. There was also degradation in the cooling provisions
of spent fuel pool in Unit-4 resulting in spent fuel getting uncovered.  The situation
is still evolving.

Download the Summary of Reporthttp://www.npcil.nic.in/pdf/Final_Report_Four_TFs_combined_report.pdf

Neutrino Research Centre

Neutrino Research Centre

The India based Neutrino Research Centre (INO) Project is proposed to set up at Bodi West Hills in Pottipuram village, Thsni District in Tamil Nadu.The State Government provided land for setting up of this underground laboratory and the action is on hand to take possession of land.There are no environmental concerns since INO is a laboratory for basic sciences.

Mobile Radiation Detection System

The Government has proposed to equip 800 police stations covering 80 cities of India with radiation monitors including mobile radiation detection system that can be fitted to Plice Control Room (PCR) vans of the police. This will facilitate police to detect and get alerted in case such a van approaches any radioactive source or a radiologically contaminated area or detects any radio active sourec being transported.